Frog Prince
by KarasumaFirestorm
Summary: Gordo gets his license, and he and Lizzie go for a little drive. (complete)


Disclaimer: no one mentioned belongs to me, I guarantee it.  
  
Author's note: just a short (me? short?) little fluffy ficlet. 'Cause I could. Actually, I found this sitting on my comp from a month or so ago and decided to finish it. The whole frog bit comes from the episode 'Gordo and the Girl'. Enjoy. Or don't. Your call.  
  
*Karasuma*Firestorm*  
  
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Frog Prince  
  
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Lizzie tapped her foot against the pavement, way past antsy and moving into annoyed. Finally a beat-up old Toyota squealed softly to a stop at the curb in front of her house. "Finally!" she huffed, hopping into the front seat. "Gordo, you don't live that far away, why did it take you so long to get here? You move faster when you're walking."  
  
"You know, *you* don't live that far away yourself," Gordo retorted. "I don't see why I had to come get you."  
  
"You know how cool it is to finally have a friend with a car?" she said. "Now c'mon, show me what this baby can do."  
  
Gordo gaped at her. "You make me wonder sometimes, McGuire," he said, shifting into drive and pulling away from the curb.  
  
"So how does it feel to finally have your license?" she said, stroking the buckle of her seatbelt and glancing around the car in admiration, even though it was a clunker.  
  
He shrugged, unimpressed. "It's okay."  
  
"UGH! How can you be so nonchalant about this?" Lizzie said. "You're a licensed driver, Gordo, you're practically an adult! Me, I don't even have my permit!"  
  
"Your birthday's in a week, isn't it?" he asked.  
  
"Mhmm," she said, abruptly switching gears and saying in an almost seductive tone, "soooo, what're you getting me?"  
  
"Like I'm going to tell you."  
  
"Please?"  
  
"This isn't going to work, Lizzie, so just give it up."  
  
"Awww," she pouted, but she couldn't stop the smile playing at the corners of her mouth. "You're no fun, Gordo."  
  
"You got that right. So, where is it you want to go? We have a full tank of gas and the whole afternoon free."  
  
"Anywhere I want?"  
  
"Anywhere you want."  
  
"The mall," she said decisively.  
  
"Not the mall!"  
  
"You said anywhere I want!"  
  
"Anywhere but the mall," Gordo amended, shaking his head. "C'mon, Lizzie, you spend every waking moment of your existence at one of four locations. Home, school, Digital Bean, mall. This is our first afternoon of true freedom. We can go *wherever we want*, and you want to go to the mall?"  
  
"Well, when you put it that way it sounds stupid. So...hmm...how about a drive up the coast? We'll stop off at a 7-11 and get some snacks, and it'll be a nice, scenic drive."  
  
"That actually sounds like a good plan. Remind me to write that down in my potential date ideas book."  
  
"The day you go on a date is the day I put on black lipstick and start dressing goth."  
  
"Very funny!" Gordo said, annoyed. "I go on dates!"  
  
"You haven't been on a date in three years," Lizzie pointed out. "Seventh grade, Brooke Baker? Your first --and last-- girlfriend."  
  
"No thanks to you," he answered. "As I recall, you're the one who ruined our date because you had to go spying on me."  
  
"No one kisses my frog but me," she said.  
  
He gave her a sidewise glance. "I'm a frog?" he repeated.  
  
"A frog."  
  
"I hope with the implication that I turn into a handsome prince."  
  
"We'll see about that."  
  
"Watch yourself, McGuire, or I'll turn this car right around."  
  
"You've been waiting sixteen years to say that, haven't you," Lizzie said.  
  
"You know it."  
  
They pulled into the 7-11 parking lot, jumped out, and ran inside. They were the only patrons, and took full advantage of it by running around the store, yelling at each other, and tossing things over the partitions between the aisles. "Barbeque chips," Gordo announced, flinging the bag at her head. At the last second, Lizzie snatched it from the air.  
  
"Ewww, I hate barbeque," she said, tossing it back to him. "Can't you get something else? Sour cream and onion?"  
  
"You want onion breath?" he questioned.  
  
"We'll get some mints to go with it."  
  
"Fine, fine," he conceded with a sigh.  
  
Lizzie giggled, and wandered into the aisle with the giant fridges, pondering what to drink. She was suddenly really looking forward to this afternoon. Gordo's schedule was packed with advanced classes, so she never saw him in school except for lunch, and even then, they hung out with a group of people, mostly Miranda and her drama friends. So Lizzie almost never got to see Gordo alone anymore.  
  
She still considered him her best friend. In fact, they were probably closer friends now than they'd ever been. They talked on the phone nightly for marathons, and Lizzie felt such a deep connection to him. It was something that seemed to even transcend the bounds of friendship, like the whole soul mate theory. Maybe she and Gordo were meant to be "together forever." Not that she was *interested* in him or anything. Not like that.  
  
...She didn't think...  
  
Although sometimes being around him made her feel sort of tingly, in a good way.  
  
"Maybe there's something on another channel," a voice over her shoulder suggested, and Lizzie snapped to it, realizing she'd been standing with the door open, staring at the neat rows of soda bottles surrounded by rising steam.  
  
Having Gordo so close to her was actually sort of unnerving, and despite the cold air blasting on her, she started to sweat slightly.  
  
"Lizzie?" He moved around in front of her, gazing at her with concern. "Are you okay?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"If you're not feeling well, we can go home. Rent a movie or something. I'll take a rain check on our drive, no problem."  
  
"What..? Oh! No! Gordo, I'm sorry. I'm not sick. I was just spacing, is all. I'm okay."  
  
"Are you sure?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"If you say so. Code Red okay?" he asked, grabbing two bottles in each hand.  
  
Lizzie nodded stupidly. "Yeah, sure, good." She was acting like such an idiot all of a sudden. She thought she'd moved past that silly maybe-crush on Gordo she'd had in the eighth grade. I mean, it was crazy. It was *Gordo*. It wasn't 'just' Gordo, as he seemed to think everyone thought of him, because honestly, she thought very highly of Gordo, and while she may have once considered him 'just' Gordo, she didn't anymore. His friendship, his very presence in her life was way too important to take for granted.  
  
But still...it was Gordo. And he was her best friend. And she wasn't supposed to fall for her best friend.  
  
Gordo took the stuff up to the counter and paid. Lizzie helped him carry the bags to the car. "How much?" she asked once they were on the road, fumbling through her purse.  
  
"Don't worry about it."  
  
"We've got three bags of junk food, Gordo, that's not cheap. C'mon, I'll pay half."  
  
"Nothing doing."  
  
"I always pay half."  
  
"Not this time, you don't."  
  
"At least let me give you gas money."  
  
He shook his head firmly. "Nope."  
  
"Gordo!"  
  
"Lizzie!" he mocked. "Seriously, don't worry about it. Today is my treat to you. I drive, I pay, all you have to do is sit back and relax."  
  
He pulled onto the highway, and they drove for awhile in light traffic, the windows down, the radio blaring. The wind was doing wonders with Lizzie's hair, blowing it all over the place, sometimes as far as into Gordo's face. "Sorry," she'd yell repeatedly, trying to tame it, but he gave no sign of complaint, just concentrated on the road.  
  
Finally he pulled off the highway to one of those scenic overlook stops on the side. Despite the warm day and the light, soothing breeze, it was empty except for them. "Look at this view," Lizzie said excitedly, rushing to the railing and peering over.  
  
"Watch yourself," Gordo said, pulling the bags out of the car and emptying the contents on the lone park bench.  
  
"Why's that?" Lizzie called. "Think I'm going to go tumbling over the side?"  
  
Suddenly her center of balance was thrown off, and she was lurching dangerously over the low guardrail. She shrieked, flailing her arms about, but not more than a second later, Gordo's arms were snugly around her waist, holding her in place. "C'mon, did you really think I was going to let you go down?"  
  
"Did you...you did! You pushed me! I can't believe you. I thought you were over there!" she panted frantically, pointing at the bench on the opposite side of the car.  
  
"You thought wrong."  
  
He let go of her, and she practically collapsed on the ground, breathing heavily.  
  
Gordo rolled his eyes. "Don't be so melodramatic, McGuire. It was funny."  
  
"Funny for *you*, maybe. *I* almost had a heart attack."  
  
"You know, the best cure for heart attacks is Doritos," he said, offering his hand to her with an apologetic smile. Fine, fine, he was just playing a silly joke. She'd let it go -- this time.  
  
She took his hand, and he hoisted her to her feet. She was surprised at how much touching Gordo --even slightly-- bothered her. She shouldn't feel this way, right?  
  
They sat there for an hour, eating Doritos and talking about inconsequential things. She loved talking with Gordo. He was so smart and insightful, and what she used to think of as his arrogant intelligence was just a desire to spread knowledge. He loved knowing things and wanted everyone else to learn and love learning, too. This side of him still annoyed Miranda and the 'theater group', but Lizzie had grown to appreciate it. Lately she'd been experiencing the same drive, the same quest for knowledge, and was excelling in school because of it. She had Gordo to thank.  
  
She was gazing off the cliff at the view, mulling this over, when Gordo said, "You've never kissed me."  
  
That certainly caught her by surprise. She turned to look at him sharply. "Excuse me?"  
  
"Earlier, you said, 'no one kisses my frog but me,'" he explained.  
  
Lizzie felt the rush of warmth in her cheeks. She'd been hoping he wouldn't have picked up on that. But this was Gordo.  
  
"I said that," she said blandly.  
  
"If you don't want to talk about it, that's okay. I was just curious, is all."  
  
Oh, now he was guilt-tripping her into it. And the thing was, she knew he wasn't even doing it intentionally. He was just being his normal, considerate self. She was the one making herself feel guilty for no good reason.  
  
"You know me," she said flippantly. "Talking without thinking all the time."  
  
He obviously wasn't buying it, but he was sweet enough to let it slide. "Y'know, Lizzie, you're the only one who ever thinks badly of yourself. Everyone else I know, with the possible exception of Kate Sanders, thinks you're really incredible."  
  
"And what about you, Gordo? What do you think?"  
  
He blinked at her a second. "You know what I think."  
  
"No, I don't."  
  
"Lizzie..."  
  
"Don't play shy with me, David Gordon," she said. "All you ever do is say what you think I want to hear. This time, tell me the absolute truth." She wondered why this was suddenly so important to her.  
  
"Anything I say to you *is* the absolute truth, Lizzie. You're perfect. I'm not lying to you. I think you're the nicest, the sweetest, the prettiest, the most fun person I know. The second smartest person I know after myself."  
  
Lizzie had to smile at that. "Really?"  
  
He rolled his eyes. "Of course. I don't say things I don't mean."  
  
"Hmm."  
  
"I showed you mine, show me yours," he said. "What do *you* think about *me*?"  
  
She didn't know what to say to that. "You're my best friend in the entire universe, and you're the one person I can tell anything to," she said slowly. "In fact, I trust you so much that I'm willing to admit that I had a crush on you in eighth grade," she said in a rush of words.  
  
Now it was his turn to look surprised. "Really?"  
  
"Um, yeah."  
  
"Oh...wow."  
  
Lizzie glanced at the scenery again, blushing. Why was she so nervous about this? That was eighth grade, and Gordo was her best friend. She'd had a crush on him in fourth grade and told him several years after the fact...no, wait, she'd told Miranda. Well, in any case, it was Gordo, and he wouldn't think any less of her because of it.  
  
"Wow? What's wow?" she said irritably.  
  
"Nothing. I just figured out the whole frog analogy."  
  
"Well, this was two years ago," she said quickly. "I mean, we're both mature enough now to handle this."  
  
"Yeah," he said slowly, staring at her. Lizzie was concentrating so intently on the laser beam stare of his blue eyes that she hadn't even noticed that he had leaned across the tabletop and was pressing his lips to hers. It was brief, but powerful. Not to mention terrifying. Embracing the moment, Lizzie had only just started to kiss him back when he broke it and sat down again, wearing a self-satisfied smirk. "There. Now you've kissed your frog."  
  
Lost in thought, not entirely sure what to do, Lizzie continued to gaze at him unwaveringly. He flapped his hand in front of her, trying to get her attention. "Yo, Lizzie. Talk to me."  
  
"What?" Lizzie said, shaking her head and breaking out of her reverie.  
  
"You're zoning again," he said unnecessarily.  
  
"Just waiting for you to turn into that prince," she replied dryly.  
  
"Ha, ha," he said, ripping open the bag of chips, extracting a handful, then pushing the rest to her.  
  
Lizzie took a handful, wondering why he was being so blase about this. Hadn't he just *kissed* her? Or maybe it only meant something to her. Maybe , maybe, maybe...  
  
Before long, they settled back into their casual conversation, and dusk faded into evening, darkness descending upon them fiercely. "We better get back," Gordo said, "don't forget the under-18 curfew."  
  
"God, won't I be grateful when *that's* lifted," Lizzie said.  
  
"Yeah, then we can hang out at highway rest stops well into the morning," he cracked.  
  
Lizzie giggled and tossed the remainder of their garbage in the trash can. It was much cooler now, so the windows were rolled up and the car was silent. Gordo hummed to himself as he drove, going at exactly the speed limit even though they were late. "You're not going to get in trouble, are you?" Lizzie asked worriedly as they pulled to a stop in front of her house.  
  
"Not if I don't get caught," he said breezily, leaning across her to pop the door handle. Lizzie half-flinched at the sudden contact and wondered for the hundredth time that day what was wrong with her. She undid her seatbelt and swung her legs out of the car. She was just shutting the door, when she thought better of it, and ducked her head back in. "Gordo? I take it all back. You're a prince after all," she said, kissing him swiftly, then smiling and darting into the safety of her house.  
  
Unbeknownst to Lizzie, a smile crossed Gordo's face as he watched the front door of Casa McGuire swing shut. He revved the engine. "And you're my princess." 


End file.
